Mary Jane Veloso of Nueva Ecija has remained in death row in Indonesia after she was saved at the last moment by appeals from international groups as well as Philippine officials. She was due to be executed for drug trafficking along with two Australians, a Brazilian, four Nigerians, and an Indonesian in April, 2015. But just hours before dawn, she was led back to her cell while the eight other death convicts were executed by firing squad.

While he is fully supportive of the incoming Duterte administration’s all-out war against crime, a pro-life lawmaker warned yesterday his colleagues against breathing life into death penalty, saying that it will not solve the lingering problem of criminality.

IN line with his campaign promise to stop crime and the spread of drugs in the country in three to six months, presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte has proposed the restoration of the death penalty for its deterrent effect on crime. He even proposed that the penalty be carried out by hanging, instead of lethal injection which replaced the electric chair in the Philippines when the death penalty was still in force.